Search

Transmedia Used to Promote Ridley Scott’s New Film “Prometheus”

20th Century Fox released a video to help promote Ridley Scott’s new film Prometheus. It wasn’t a trailer. It wasn’t one of those awful ‘watch people watch the screening in night vision’ videos. It wasn’t even a behind the scenes clip. It was Peter Weyland, founder of Weyland industries speaking at the TED conference in the year 2023. He delivers an inspiring speech in which he relates the story of Prometheus, who stole fire from the Greek Gods and gave it to humans.

In this 3 minute and 9 second speech there is no mention of Prometheus the film. At the end of the clip we are provided a web address for WeylandIndustries.com. This, my friends is Transmedia and I hope it catches on like…well, like fire.

What is Transmedia?

Transmedia is a way of telling a story through multiple platforms using digital technologies. Transmedia builds on the ideas of Technological Convergance. Basically the idea is that all the mediums that had been traditionally separate (television, radio, print, etc.) are becoming one medium or consumable by one piece of technology.

A great example of this is a smart phone. At first a cell phone’s primary use was to take and receive phone calls. Now cell phones can do that in addition to take video, photo, compose email, transmit documents, surf the web, play music and on and on and on. Transmedia acts in the same way. Instead of a film being just film (or a book adaptation) living in its own environment, it becomes a video game, or a website, or an album.

In the case of Prometheus, a traditional commercial is transformed into a piece of content that supplements the story of the film.

Why is Transmedia Effective?

Ridley Scott and 20th Century Fox aren’t the only ones aware of transmedia, Coca Cola and many others are getting into the mix as well (check out Coke’s Content 2020 videos). What makes transmedia so effective is its emphasis on story and branding versus selling and corporation. The groundswell has been moving businesses in this direction for some time now and the evolution of social media is being realized.

Businesses are just now starting to catch on to tools such as; blogs, twitter, facebook, pinterest, instagram, etc. which changing the way companies communicate their brand.

We are moving away further and further away from traditional media that shouts as loud as it can so that the most people can hear it. We are moving towards most intimate conversations that speak to highly targeted groups. Transmedia will spark the conversation while social media outlets and the like facilitate it.

What is the Future of Facebook?

At an event that included a performance by Alicia Keys (doesn’t she have something better to do?), Facebook announced a few big changes to the way it’s going to handle advertising. These days hearing that Facebook is changing comes with more indifferent sighs and grunts from its users. What they might not be thinking about is that these decisions might be critical decisions about the future of their favorite website.

Since Facebook has allowed advertising and with their IPO on the imminent horizon there should be no shockers when it comes to advertising on Facebook. Next time you’re on Facebook check out the terms and services. You’ll come to the sobering realization that Facebook owns your ass and there’s nothing you do can do about it.

Even with Facebook arguably at the peak of its membership performance the next hurdle will be how can they grow through monetization? This is a tricky thing to navigate. If you appeal too much to the advertisers at the expense of the user experience you’ll fail. Lean too favorably to the members and you’ll fall equally hard.

We’re in a very interesting and exciting age of new mediums right now. In my opinion the internet is finally realizing its full potential in so far as our ability to connect and consume information. While the capability is there no one knows what the hell they’re doing yet. The likes of Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Pinterest, Spotify etc. are venturing into unknown business territory. The rules are being made up as we go along.

What this all makes me wonder is where will all of this be in the next ten years, twenty years, fifty years? Will Google and Facebook be the GE and P&G of the next century? That’s hard to imagine at this point. The announcement about Facebook’s new advertising policy and looming IPO might be very small news to most of its users, but how they handle the coming months and years might determine the course of the social media medium as we know it.

Irish agency Simply Zesty posted a list of “9 Impressive Social Media Campaigns Using Video” recently. They all are certainly impressive as they go well beyond just sending out a tweet or posting an article on Facebook. That being said there was a pair of videos from that list that really stuck out to me.

LIVE INTERACTIVE MURALS
The Canadian tourist board wanted to use social media to promote Canada as a holiday destination for their friends to the south. They could have paid for promoted tweets or started a vacation album on Flickr. You wouldn’t show up on any lists for being impressive if you did that though. Their idea was to install giant interactive murals in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. These murals featured streaming tweets and photos from tourists currently in Canada. To take it even a step further people could walk up to them and move the streams or click to enlarge items.

What I love about this campaign isn’t just the interactivity. I’m always a fan of that. I also love the concept of taking the online offline or vice versa. It’s that sort of thinking that took this idea to the next level. Separately, they’re not unique. The online aspect is basically just a search stream, while the offline component would be just another digital poster. Together, and with a little wow factor, they create a buzz worthy campaign. While the video isn’t the main focus it’s a great complimentary piece. Even in a high traffic area once the murals are taken down the exposure is over. Creating a video about the campaign creates great lasting power and earned the Canadian tourist board an extra 50k eyeballs through YouTube alone.

INTERACTIVE ZOMBIE STORY
Does anyone remember those choose your own ending books? I used to love it when they did that with Goosebumps books. I used to always choose the path that would surely kill me so I could cover every possible scenario. New Zealand based pizza parlor Hell Pizza decided to take that choose your own ending style of storytelling and make an interactive Youtube video with it. With the introduction of annotations on Youtube you can watch a video then select what you want to see next given the options. The Hell Pizza film “Deliver Me To Hell” is about a delivery driver who needs to ship his pie without being eaten by zombies!

If you’ve got twenty minutes or so this could be the most entertaining use of them. Once again, props for interactivity. By focusing on building an immersive story (even if it’s pretty silly) you can go beyond brand awareness and affect behavior in the short term. You bond with the characters on your journey to deliver a Hell pizza. It’s funny, engaging, quirky, and highly contagious (see what I did there). If they opened a Hell Pizza near me I’d be first in line. Good marketing shouldn’t go without praise! As of today “Deliver Me To Hell” part 1 has over 5 million views on YouTube.

Make sure to check out the rest of the top 9 here and don’t be afraid to send your own favorite social media or interactive campaigns to Rated JPG.

Steve Jobs will be talked about for many years even after his passing. All forms of media were pouring with sympathy and prophetic comparisons for the co-founder of Apple. Steve Jobs was one of those rare individuals that was able to impact the masses. Not only did he help create some of the most widely used technology of our time, he helped us to think in a different way.

A culture sprung out of his concept for what Apple meant to him and what he wanted it to mean for others. One of the most talked about and an analyzed advertisement of all time was the Apple commercial based on the book 1984. I still get chills sometimes when I see that very 80’s looking woman hurling a sledge hammer into the teeth of Big Brother. That ad was symbolic of more than the release of the Macintosh. It was an analogy for how Jobs saw the purpose of his company. He wanted to give people something that they didn’t even know they needed.

Actor Justin Long probably owes a part of his early career success to Apple. Who hasn’t seen the “I’m a PC. And I’m a Mac” commercials without chuckling a little. Even the jingle was so infectious that it has become almost synonymous with Apple. As a PC user you couldn’t help but buy into the Jobs idea. Apple is innovation. Apple is style. Apple is here to help YOU.

“Just waking up after a late arrival, I’ve never seen a machine operate like that n person, to see video game numbers put up n person was WOW”

For some reason this tweet lit a fire under the butt of ESPN analyst Tedy Bruschi. After Tom Brady and the Patriots left Dolphins fans wondering if they would ever stop scoring, Pats wide receiver Chad Ochocinco (@ochocinco) sent this message over the Twitter airwaves.

At first I jumped to the conclusion that Bruschi is just a pumped up ra-ra ESPN analyst trying to make waves in the kiddy pool of “former players turned ESPN analysts that aren’t any good” (By the way, notice how they call him “Ex-Patriot” and not ESPN analyst on the mothership’s website). While I still lean towards that theory I might have another one. Maybe he wouldn’t have taken so much flak if Chad had made this comment any other medium than Twitter?

In part of Tedy’s rant he said, “Stop tweeting and get in your playbook.” First of all, as an “analyst” Bruschi should know it takes all of 30 seconds to send a tweet. I’m would hope Chad has 30 seconds in his day to socialize with his fans.

People that don’t understand the use and value of Twitter see it as another narcissistic platform where people can tell others what they had for lunch. While Tedy may have been upset by Ochocinco’s misunderstanding of the “Patriot way”, it was Chad’s choice of media platform which caused the ruckus.

Clearly though, Bruschi didn’t care where Chad said it. He’s a Patriot through and through. Anyone who isn’t in lock step will probably bother the guy. He was more upset by what Chad said than where he said it. So maybe instead of being a pumped up ra-ra ESPN analyst, he’s now an old crotchety pumped up ra-ra ESPN analyst that also doesn’t understand new media.

Do you think the medium effected how the message was received in this case? Do you think Twitter is seen as an unsophisticated platform?

I remember the first time I heard about Facebook. My first thought was, “that sounds like a god awful idea. I can talk to people with AIM.” There’s a reason I haven’t become an angel investor. It didn’t take long before I was checking out the site. The only problem was that I was in high school and didn’t have a college account, which meant I couldn’t sign up.

Today, Facebook introduced a new feature called “subscribing.” Essentially subscribing takes the idea of following people on twitter and gives you even more control over what messages you view. That whistling your hearing right now is the proverbial bomb that I’m about to drop. You can also follow…excuse me…”subscribe” to people that you’re not friends with. This means, you guessed it, people can subscribe to you too. Facebook does emphasize that you need to opt in to allow people you’re not “friends” with to follow you.The idea of exclusivity which Facebook was born out of is withering to nothing. It started with them dropping the need for a college email account. Then Facebook advertising, business pages, a marketplace, Facebook chat, and the list goes on.

All that being said subscribing sounds like a great concept. I love the idea of choosing what messages I see. The way everyone used to describe Facebook was it’s a way to keep up with old friends. I would argue that they’ve gotten far away from that concept subscribing helps bring it back. Now you can filter the messages of people on your peripheral so that you only get the important info. You might not care about the fantasy football team run by a guy you went to high school with, but you might care if he moved to the UK or got a new job.

Google plus might have been the best thing that happened to Facebook. Since then they’ve made some great changes that make their UI even better. In the process the mega social media platform may have sold what little was left of its soul. With social media becoming exponentially more popular each day will we ever see a “private” network again? Or was the cult like atmosphere of Facebook’s early days just a fad? What do you think?

What’s in a name? Have you thought about all the different monikers you’ve ever gone by? How many different usernames, screen names, nicknames, and pseudonyms have you created in your lifetime? Probably more than you can count or even recollect.

Google+ wants to simplify your life by only allowing you to use your real name. No longer will the web know you as HelloKittyGirl99 (I love that this is real) for those of you with Plain Jane names. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said in a Q&A session, “Google+ was built primarily as an identity service, so fundamentally, it depends on people using their real names if they’re going to build future products that leverage that information.” To which Andy Carvin of NPR commented, “Regarding people who are concerned about their safety, [Schmidt] said G+ is completely optional. No one is forcing you to use it. It’s obvious for people at risk if they use their real names, they shouldn’t use G+.”

That doesn’t sound like the type of message a social networking service should be sending out, especially one that is trying to take down Facebook. I might agree that if your life is in danger by using your real name that it isn’t worth the sacrifice so you can +1 your friend’s cat picture.

Many people on Facebook change their names. A number of them do it to dodge employers, stalkers, or to change a generic name so they can be found if desired. Sometimes it’s as simple as using your middle name instead of your last, while others go for the full blown name change. Even William Shatner had his profile suspended for not following the rules.

Does the Google+ model completely break down if you want to change your name from Yoshihariana to Yoshi? I would think not. It feels more likely with each passing day that Google will sell out its followers to advertisers or the like. Maybe not anytime soon, but if this project really does make a social mark we may not be able to hide in social networking witness protection.

If you are a heavy Twitter user (like what I aspire to be) then you’ll find that your Twitter pipeline can get clogged very fast. There are ways to divert the constant flow of information like using lists, groups, or searches all of which some with pros and cons. Lists need regular updating as your network grows and unless you’re already using a third party provider you can’t save searches in Twitter.

As I was reading an article on tools to simplify your online life I came across a gem, Strawberryj.am. It’s a web based program that organizes your tweets in order of what posts are mentioned the most. For example, if a post is sent out by Mashable and 30 of your twitter followers share the article then it will show up in your Strawberryj.am feed as “popular”. That way you’ll be able to tell what other people think is important industry news. Oh ya, and it’s free!

After spending a short time using the service I feel that this is more geared towards Twitter accounts with many followers. I’m currently at about 100 followers which is nothing compared to most. My most mentioned post count is typically only at around five, so it might not be the best gauge for me. I still think it’s a great way to find out about articles that might not be on my radar. Strawberryj.am also has other features such as saved searches, tags, and lists. I haven’t seen an option to add multiple accounts yet though.

What I’m also very excited about is their plans to integrate with Facebook in the future. Facebook news can be just as hard to keep up with as Twitter. This will be a welcome addition when it’s up and running.

At the time that this article was posted Strawberryj.am was in beta. You need an invite to join, but you can request one from their website. Be patient. It took me a few days to receive mine.

Google+ hit the market with a colossal amount of buzz. Everyone was talking about it, wondering who would be able to give them an invite. While most social media bloggers laud G+ for its relative ease of use, will the general public accept it?

The biggest asset Google+ has is the concept of circles. Being able to target your messages makes them more effective. With all the social media noise out there it is easy to blast someone’s account with too much information. That can lead to people either ignoring your message or worse, blocking it entirely. Targeted messaging also helps when trying to maintain your privacy. If you want to say something you wouldn’t want your coworkers to hear it’s now easy to shut of that valve.

With Facebook’s new sharing and privacy features, however, Google’s biggest gun might have been neutralized. Now when sharing a post (or really anything) you can choose who can view it and even create specific groups. Basically that accomplishes what circles was meant to do on Google+. Another very big change to Facebook is how you tag photos. Before the only way to hide an incriminating photo (mostly underage drinking for those young job seekers) was to not take it and hope no one else had a camera. Now you have the ability to reject a tag request and even send a message telling the host to take it down. These types of changes will appear in various places across Facebook.

So now that Facebook has landed a heavy blow to an already tapering Google+ user base, how does G+ keep people from returning to Facebook? This battle has only just begun.